Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies AS (KOGT) has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in Advali AS. The acquisition, which is expected to be completed mid-December 2012, will strengthen KOGT's capabilities and efficiency in software development, testing and support.

Advali is a leading provider of software development services to the Nordic region. The company was originally founded in Norway in 1997. In 2003 it established facilities in Bangalore, India, focusing on software development and testing. All 120 employees are now based in Bangalore.

Today, Advali is a specialized company in relation to the entire software development value chain; from project management, technical design, modelling, development, implementation, and testing.

“We see an increasing demand to strengthen our capacity, competence and efficiency within software development, test and support,” states Pål Helsing, President and CEO, KOGT. “We have cooperated with Advali for the last few years, and have very good experience with its services and deliveries. We are therefore very pleased with the acquisition and are looking forward to integrating Advali into KOGT.”

“As a leading technology and software company, KOGT is a very good match for Advali,” adds Robert Kristiansen, Chief Executive Officer of Advali. “The acquisition will further strengthen our development, supporting deliveries and growth, in addition to being very positive for our highly skilled employees who will be working as part of a highly respected and experienced organisation in a very exciting marketplace worldwide.”

“KOGT has been our major customer for many years – integrity, passion for technology, people centric, customer oriented etc. are some strong common ethos that binds both the entities, generating the synergy that was a primary ingredient to this amalgamation and will certainly be the success factor for an easy integration of the organizations going forward” says Vinod Bhawnani Chief Technology Officer, Advali. “We are raring to experience the increased employment opportunities, larger customer base and a wider geographic presence.”